In our fifth episode we begin by discussing the two Brown Bears shot at Whipsnade Zoo after escaping from their enclosure and a new Born Free report looking at which species are kept by zoos. Dominic talks about the latest on the so-called badger cull. Charlie looks at the UK's biodiversity crisis in the light of a new report from the RSPB using data from the Natural History Museum. In 'Hero and Villian' we both praise Lisa Marley (who also provides this week's pre-record) and her excellent new podcast series 'Crimes Against Nature'. Dominic's villain this week is Norway's government for their plans to capture Minke Whales and torture them with sound experiments, Charlie's villains are the shooting lobbyists who have endlessly delayed replacing lead shot instead of dumping it into the environment. In '60 Second Sell' we flag up two important petitions ('Ban the Sale of Artificial Grass' and 'Ask the EU to recognise animal sentience') and finally we announce our plans to open up the Off the Leash Podcasts website as a 'community bulletin board'.

Whipsnade Zoo | BBC News: Brown bears shot dead after enclosure escape

Born Free | The Majority Of Species Kept In Charitable UK Zoos Aren’t Threatened With Extinction

The War on Wildlife Project | Biodiversity? The UK is losing it fast

Lisa Marley | Crimes Against Nature | True Crime Nature Podcast

Whale and Dolphin Conservation | Norway urged to abandon plans to experiment on captured whales

Change.org | WDC petition 'Tell Norway’s government to stop cruel whale experiments'

The War on Wildlife Project | Lead shot is poisoning Europe’s raptors

Government Petition | Ban the Sale of Artificial Grass

Care2 Petition | Tell the EU to recognise animals as sentient beings

Lauren S J Cook on Twitter 

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